Pennsylvania is one of the most absurdly gerrymandered states in the country. Let's call it a 50/50 state. The 5 most recent presidential elections:
• 2000- Gore 50.6%, 48.6%• 2004- Kerry 51.0%, Bush 48.5%• 2008- Obama 54.7%, McCain 44.3%• 2012- Obama 52.0%, Romney 46.8%• 2016- Trump 48.6%, Hillary 47.9%
The 5 most recent presidential elections:
It was actually silly for Trump to tweet yesterday that Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones is somehow a Pelosi/Schumer puppet. And, an hour later, he repeated the focus group-tested phrase. Puppet? Pelosi puppet? Jones is running for Senate and Schumer's name isn't toxic enough (yet) among the Fox/Hate Talk Radio masses to stand on its own.
The Washington Post's Robert Costa and Philip Rucker reported that-- wait for it-- Republicans fear Democratic wins mean more losses to come. Who'd a thunk?
Yesterday, writing for the Washington Post James Hohmann made the case that the blundering moron has wrecked the American health-care system by immediately halting cost-sharing reductions for 7 million Americans and now owns the dire consequences.
When I first saw North Carolina state Senator Jeff Jackson's tweets (above), ny eye was drawn to the graphic. Maybe because of the hues or the simplicity of the forms, it rang some Fernand Léger bells in my mind. Turned out, though, that Jeff was talking about gerrymandering, not art criticism.
The other day I was talking with a first-time Democratic candidate who has a bit of a reputation as a centrist, although he insist-- at least to me-- that he's a progressive. I'm not persuaded. He says he's kind of, sort of good with Medicare-For-All but there's no way he'd say he's going to co-sponsor John Conyers Medicare-For-All bill.
Earlier today we ran a post about Hillary's promise/threat-- depending on your point of view-- to campaign for Democratic candidates next year in the districts she won. She did relatively well in the suborn collar counties around Philly-- although her coattails were...
The DCCC insists that its candidates avoid "controversial" issues. The opposite of that approach is... Pennsylvania state Senator Daylin Leach, the most progressive person in the Pennsylvania legislature. He just threw his hat into the hotly contested race for the Democratic nomination for the 7th district seat currently held by dull backbencher and Paul Ryan rubber stamp Pat Meehan. The 7th is a minutely gerrymandered district. Obama beat McCain 53-46% and then lost to Romney 50-49%. Hillary beat Trumpanzee 49.3% to 47.0%.
Let me save Pennsylvania for the end, since that's the one with Democrats. Georgia and Kentucky are Republican affairs, although who the GOP voters pick in each state may influence the outcome of the November elections-- and the control of the U.S. Senate. We'll start with Georgia's 7 dwarves running for the open red Senate seat that conservative Democrat, Sam Nunn's daughter, thinks she has a chance to win.
